Deere and Co. has bought a majority stake in Hagie, a family–owned sprayer manufacturer.
“It is a good time for expansion for many companies in agriculture,” said Barry Nelson of John Deere.
Deere has large sprayers, but the Hagie lineup includes the tall machines that are useful in late-season liquid application of nutrients to corn crops as well as midseason inter-row seeding and fertilizer application. This meets market demand for the popular cover crop trend.
“It’s an addition to our lineup, filling in (a gap),” Nelson said.
Hagie has had a unique distribution model for short-line operators by handling most of its sales itself without having an expansive dealer network.
That will change with the Deere ownership as Hagie equipment is added to the dealers’ lines globally for both sales and service.
Hagie chief executive officer Alan Hagie said the Deere distribution system is critical to reaching the increased customers that it will need for future growth.
